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WILLIAM RUSSELL, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y,

MANNER OF CONSTRUCTING RAILROADS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,594, dated May 8, 17840.

To all LU/wm t may concern Be it known that I, AVILLIAM RUSSELL, of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented an Improvement in the Manner of Constructing Railroads, and which improvement is in part applicable to common roads and to streets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention consistsin a new and improved manner of preparing and laying wooden blocks, either on the horse tracks for rail roads or on common roads and streets; and also in a new and improved mode of preparing the string pieces for railways, and of bolting or confining the rails thereon.

The track upon which horses are to travel upon railroads, and upon which horses and carriages are to pass on common roads and streets, I pave with blocks of wood, but these blocks I form, arrange, and Ysustain in a new and peculiar manner. YAlong the road, whether it be a railroad, common road, or street, I lay string pieces in such manner as to form and constitute an abutment on each side of the portion which is to be paved with wood, and these, as well as the wood pavement, I lay upon hemlock or other suitable plank placed in double thicknesses crossing each other diagonally, after having first duly graded and preparedV the ground for their reception. Vhen a railway is to be formed I lay plate rails along the string piece, and these 'late rails I confine down by means o' bolts and keys, formed and applied as hereinafter described.

Figure 1, in the accompanying drawing, represents the manner in which I form and pave my roads and tracks.

A, A, A, are the found-ation planks, crossing each other on the graded way. These planks or boards may be laid either with their edges in contact, or several inches apart, according to circumstances. Upon these I lay the string pieces B, B, the depth of which pieces must be governed by the length to which it is intended to cut the paving blocks. Suppose this depth to be twelve inches, then two such string pieces may be conveniently cut from logs of twelve inches square, by running a saw through them so as to leave a face of three inches for the iron rail, or upper side of the string piece, and a base of nine inches on which it may rest. These string pieces are to be laid at such distance apart as is required for the road or track, the sloping sides toward .each other, so as to constitute a suitable abutment for the paving blocks.

C, C, C, are the paving blocks, and these I cut from sawed scantling, of any suitable timber, crosscutting it in formingthe-blocks in an oblique direction, so as to'adapt them to the slope of the sides of the string pieces, and forming the respective blocks which are to fill the space between the two string pieces wedge shaped, or in the manner of key stones, so that when combined they shall constitute a kind of fiat arch, the surface of which is to be left` sufliciently crowning to carry off the water. By giving to them this form they will be very readily laid in place, while, at the same time, from their resting upon a foundation of boards or planks, they will have no tendency to force the string pieces apart. When the track is double, lthe plank A, A, shouldbe of suficient length to extend under both, and invaddition to the diagonal plank, others, acting as crossties, may be added, if preferred.

D, D, are string pieces of a second track, but represented as filled in with gravel, or small stones, instead of being paved with wood. An iron rail is shown as laid upon one of the string pieces at E, E. Y

The modes of confining the iro-n plate rails, to the string pieces, heretofore adopted, have been found defective. Vhen attempted to be secured by spikes, if the spikes do not draw out, their heads soon give way so as to loosen the rails. Screws passed into the wood, and having heads adapted to countersinks in the rails have been found liable to the same objection. Screw bolts, with nuts on their lower ends, have been passed entirely through the string pieces, under an idea that by turning the nuts the rails might be tightened, when requisite, but this plan has failed not only from the labor and difficulty attending the getting at them but from the rusting of the nuts and screws under the string pieces, by which the turning of the nuts is entirely prevented. To avoid these difiiculties I have adopted the following plan, Vas represented in Fig. 2,v

which shows a cross section through one of the string pieces, the rail upon it, and the kind of bolt which I employ to confine the two together.

B is the string piece, and E, the iron rail; through this I pass a round bolt a, the head of which fits into a countersink in the rail, its

shank passing intoV a hole bored into the string VpieceV to receive it. p there isa mortise to admit the iron VWedge yentering a corresponding mortse in the string piece. VIhe upper edge of thislwedge bears againstV the stringpieoe, and its lower against the llower edge of the mortise in theV bolt, Which mortise iskof sufficient length tov allow the bolt to be drawn down by the Wedge. vIt Will be manifest that the tight-- ening ofvthis bolt can beat any time eeoted by the removal of a few Vshovels of earth;

, these bolts may be aninch in diameter', and they may be made of cast iron, which may,

if found requisite, be rendered malleable.

Having thus fully desoribed'the manner Through this holt in which I construct myv improved roads, and tracks, Wha-tlf` claim therein as constituting my invention and desire to secure by i Letters Patent, is-eA t The manner of forming the track or road by the combination of the' string Apieces With sloping sides, and the Wooden blocks out fromscantling, adapted to the said sloping -sides and `resting onafoundationof boards or planks, the Whole arranged and constructed substantially as set forth.`

, WILLIAM RUSSELL.

`lVitnesses:Y l! i y i THos. P. JONES,

JNO. H. B. LATROBE. 

